Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hawker” come from?

Hawker comes from English hawk, Chinese 兒, Old English hafoc, Latin -are, Latin -arius, and Proto-Indo-European keh₂p-, meaning to seize or grasp.

hawker (English): A peddler, huckster, who travels about to sell...

Definitions

  1. A peddler, huckster, who travels about to sell...

Ancestry of “hawker”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Low Germanhȫkerpeddler
2Old High Germanhuchan—
3Proto-Germanic*hūkan-—
4Proto-Germanic*hūkkan-—
5Proto-Germanic*huk(k)ōn-—
6Proto-Indo-European*kuk-néh₂—
7Proto-Indo-Europeanḱewk-flare up, glow; white; to glow, burn, lighten
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ḱewk- →